Lakeville North senior J.P. Macura is the fourth player from Minnesota's high-profile 2014 high school class to receive an offer from the Gophers. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi)

New Gophers men's basketball coach Richard Pitino hadn't watched JP Macura play in person until July 11 at a tournament in Indianapolis.

After two games, Pitino saw enough of the 6-foot-5 Lakeville North senior guard to offer a scholarship -- making him the fourth player from Minnesota's high-profile 2014 high school class to receive an offer from the home-state's Division I program.

"I was pretty excited. I just felt blessed and honored," Macura said this week. "I'm definitely going to take a close look at the school because it's close to home and a Big Ten program. I'm going to spend time with the players after July, get on campus and just see how they do things over there."

In a way, Macura's recruitment is just beginning. Until averaging 20 points a game at the adidas Invitational Classic last week in Indiana, he hadn't been so highly coveted. He previously had 20 scholarship offers from mostly midmajor programs, along with Florida State, Kansas State and Iowa State.

Since last week's tournament, Macura has picked up offers from Minnesota, Miami (Fla.), North Carolina State, Auburn, Purdue, Texas Tech and Missouri. He also got a call from Texas.

"I'm just going to play the best I can in July and see what other schools offer me," said Macura, who will play Thursday in his D1 Minnesota AAU team's Summer Classic in Bloomington.

"If I find a school that I'm 100 percent sure I want to go there, then I'm going to commit," he said.

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"But I'm probably going to take visits in August and try to make my decision in late August or September. I want to make it before the high school basketball season."

The state's "Big Three" seniors -- Tyus Jones of Apple Valley, Rashad Vaughn formerly of Cooper (who transferred to Findlay Prep in Las Vegas) and Reid Travis of DeLaSalle -- all say they still are considering Minnesota. But Jones almost certainly is headed elsewhere, and Vaughn and Travis have offers from power programs.

A three-star prospect on most recruiting sites, Macura had been considered the best of the second tier of 2014 Minnesota high school players. But his play in Indianapolis generated a lot of buzz; he fielded dozens of calls from media and coaches before he even made it home.

Macura, who averaged 25.6 points and 6.8 rebounds as a junior at Lakeville North last season, is an accurate shooter who showed an ability to score in the open court and get teammates involved during the AAU season. He scored 28 points against Indiana Elite in front of Pitino and others last week.

If Brad Stevens hadn't left Butler to take over the Boston Celtics earlier this month, Macura might have committed to the Bulldogs after an official visit to campus June 27. But Stevens' departure gave Pitino, and others, an opening.

"It slowed the (recruiting) process down," said Macura's father, Paul. "We were heading in that direction."

Macura said he still has a "high interest" in Butler, even with former Bulldogs assistant Brandon Miller named as Stevens' replacement. But the coaching change gave the Gophers a shot.

What promises to be a fast-paced, free-flowing style of play under Pitino intrigues Macura, who met with the Gophers' new coaching staff on campus in the spring and again with assistant Ben Johnson last month. Macura said Pitino also called last week to let him know: "We want you to be a Gopher."

"I know he's going to turn the Gopher program around after hearing him," Macura said. "We just talked about what was going on and everything. We had a good conversation."

Macura says he feels fortunate to have so many more options; now he wants to see which school is the best fit.

"It's fun, and it's overwhelming," he said. "This is the first time that I played in a tournament, and all these schools have been calling me every day after. It's been crazy. Not too many kids get an opportunity like this."